Inspiration Leonhard Seppala is considered one of Alaska's first great mushers, and like all who took part in the 1925 serum run from Seward to Nome, he's a local hero. The safer alternative was twice as far. In 1929 he won the Eastern just what happened (rumours say that Seppala ran up a hotel bill at the feeling that the credit had been stolen from Togo who had deserved to be Family information Finally, Seppala did indeed attempt to give Togo away to a woman who tried to make him a house pet, and according to The Cruelest Miles, Togo really did escape by jumping through a windowpane. He was best known for being a Dog Musher. While he raced to the roadhouse at Isaac's Point on the opposite shore, gale-force winds drove the windchill to an estimated 85F (65C) from a real temperature of only 30F (34C). His contribution to Alaska's sled dog racing history, and his pioneering work developing the Siberian Husky bloodline are also well known. Seppala became the crucial figure in the delivery by dogsled of a By Robert Forto, PhD. The following year a team of ten sleddogs was brought to Nome from eastern Leonhard Seppala: property of Jonathan Hayes. 1927 through 1930. However, as going around the ice meant slowing the delivery of the serum by a full day, he chose to go across. Wikipedia contributors, "Leonhard Seppala," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. They asked him to begin traveling toward Nenana. The only treatment available in 1925 was diphtheria antitoxin serum. The story goes, the raven kept landing in the trail just ahead of the team. Small cracks in the ice could suddenly widen, and driver and team could be plunged into the freezing water. his name was over, but his Seppala sleddogs, descendants of original Siberian pampered, comfortable retirement. [1] The bundle containing the serum was knocked out and he dug with his bare hands in the snow to find it. His contribution to Alaskas sled dog racing history, and his pioneering work developing the Siberian Husky bloodline are also well known. His eight-year-old daughter Sigrid was in Nome, in danger of contracting diphtheria herself. Please visit the About section of our YouTube channel to learn how you can help today. the tour was completed and his dogs safely settled in Poland Spring, he He tries locking him away and later give him away to another owner twice. He was by many reasonable accounts, the greatest musher of all time! Once more details are available, we will update this section. He writes: WHILE SEPPALA WAS IN ALASKA the sport of dogsled racing was developed A diphtheria epidemic had broken out in Nome, Alaska. SEPPALA'S EXPLOITS and the Poland Spring kennel breeding gave Of course, Seppala grumbles that Constance is too softhearted and. He enjoyed the task from his first run, which he recalled clearly for the rest of his life. Have you taken a DNA test? This footage of the famed Alaska dog musher was possibly shot in Chatanika, Alaska in the early 1940s. Few mushers would dare tempt their fate by crossing Norton sound once, and most would have wasted time going around. Sepp Seppala apparently Discover the optimal month due to daylight, temperature, and rain. JUMP TO: Leonhard Seppalas biography, facts, family, personal life, zodiac, videos and related celebs. By that time, he had already been a lead sled dog for seven years. Summers is also the man who recommended Seppala for the run. However, the descriptions in The Cruelest Miles suggest more whimsy: The cheerful and diminutive Seppala was also seen as something of a show-off, known to flip double back handsprings just for laughs and land with a somersault. As shown in the movie, Seppala did beat legendary musher Scotty Allen in a race, which marked the beginning of his own celebrity. Details of Death: Died in the Poland Spring, Maine home of Elizabeth Ricker, a friend of Leonhard Seppala and fellow dog musher and breeder. Willem Dafoe plays Togo's trainer, legendary musher Leonhard Seppala, and Juliana Nicholson plays his wife Constance. Also along on the Serum run was the ageing Visit September to April to see the Northern Lights. If the story of Seppala ended here we would probably not be thinking of him now, nor trying to preserve the breed he worked so hard to establish. seventy Siberian dogs bought at the Siberian trading village of Markovo on the First Name Leonhard. In the winter of 1924-1925, a diphtheria epidemic was threatening the town of Nome, located on the southern Seward Peninsula on the northwestern coast of Alaska. Craving an escape from his grief,. Leonhard Seppala with his dog Togo and Willem Dafoe in. Leonhard Seppala Was born 14 Sep 1877 in Skibotn, Troms, Norway. They have a strong faith and can be seen as stubborn in their old ways. In 1928, Seppala moved his permanent home to near Fairbanks, Alaska. To a large degree, yes. the resort in 1931 she met Kaare Nansen, the son of Norwegian explorer Seppala initially followed in his father's footsteps as both a blacksmith and a fisherman. Balto makes a brief cameo in the movie: Hes the lead dog in Gunnar Kaasens team. (a hand-forged vise) that would demonstrate his competence at the While only black and white photos exist of Togo when he was alive, Leonhard Seppala had him custom mounted after his death at age 16. This clip features famed Alaska dog musher Leonhard Seppala and his wife Constance Seppala sitting on the porch in front of a house and playing with a litter of puppies. Despite the differences in the Disney version of the storysuch as the blizzard at the beginningthe fictionalized aspects are not an exaggeration of the dangers involved. At the New Year festivities at Alaska Airlines has established the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award. Leonhard Seppala Is A Member Of . While a party is being held in his honor, a young girl points out how Togo's health is deteriorating, upsetting Seppala. Seppala tosses Togo ashore, and the dog somehow manages to tow the floe close enough to the coast to enable the rest of the team to follow. Did Leonhard Seppala and his wife have any children? After the death partnership arrangement with the Bow Lake Kennels of Earl L. Snodie, during the First World War. 'Sepp' entered the 1914 His friend Jafet Lindeberg had returned from Alaska and convinced Seppala to come to work for his mining company in Nome. Yes. . Seppala crossed the treacherous sea ice of Norton Sound twice to save time, once out to receive the serum and then again on the way back.. publicity given to "newspaper dog" Balto who had led the Kaasen team, Use tab to navigate through the menu items. 1946. Leonhard Seppala. He began to go in his I responded by reminding him that Leonhard Seppala often ran as many as 24 dogs on snow and ice! Seppala's friend Jafet Lindeberg returned home Undaunted by the massive storm heading their way and against his wife Constance's ( Julianne Nicholson) better judgement, veteran musher Seppala will push Togo and his entire dog sled team to. After 3 days and 170 miles (270km), he came in sight of another relay musher, Henry Ivanoff, but did not realise it. Gunnar Kasson, however, did not hand over the serum to the next waiting musher but brought it the rest of the way into Nome. Jeff King. He had learnt to wrestle as a boy, virtually as a matter - Unlike Balto, whom Seppala had neutered at six months of age, Togo sired many litters of puppies for Sepp's breeding program, and today is widely considered one of the fathers of the modern Siberian Husky breed (as well as a strong contributor to the much older "Seppala . Photo illustration by Slate. When Amundsen cancelled his trip a few weeks after the puppies arrived in Nome, Lindeberg gave them to Seppala. Occupation One day, Ashley's wife tried to strike Mumbet's sister with a spade. In 1946, he and his wife Constance moved to Seattle, Washington. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPZG-Z2K, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHBL-18T, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leonhard_Seppala&oldid=931924516, Nome City Cemetery, Nome, Nome Census Area, Alaska, "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (, "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (. The other half of the meeting is not-so-subtle pressure on Seppala to ride to Nenana to pick up the serum. alongside his sprinting team, keeping pace effortlessly. After a town meeting, the phone rang at Seppalas home and the dogs in the yard began to howl. started the first historic 'Seppala Kennels' in Poland Spring in partnership Siberian imports Kree Vanka, Tserko and Volchok, together with other key Seppala and his dogs also traveled from Alaska to the lower 48 states to do a nationwide tour. [1], When the serum passed to Seppala, night was falling and a powerful low-pressure system was moving towards the trail from the Gulf of Alaska. Who are the richest people in the world? Leonhard Seppalas mothers name is unknown at this time and his fathers name is under review. Everyone looking on was quite amused when a Russian fur trader by the name of William Goosak pulled into the starting shoot with some half-sized bushy-tailed rat dogs he had imported from Siberia. (Victory at this race had . [11], During his first winter in Alaska, Seppala became a dogsled driver for Lindeberg's company. eluded him the two previous years and he was determined to win it in 1929.) Big ship or small ship? . In advanced cases, diphtheria can also cause the neck to swell, in part due to swollen lymph nodes, resulting in a condition nicknamed "bull neck" (visible below). It was also the longest by roughly 200 miles. the core Poland Spring stock that had gone to Quebec became the property He kept his dogs in form during the summer by having them pull a cart on wheels instead of a sled. Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media, Willem Dafoe's character states in the movie that Togo was named after the underdog Japanese admiral and naval hero Tōgō Heihachirō. Leonhard Seppala is the protagonist in the 2019 film Togo. Lindeberg was a leading figure in the immigrant miners' fight for As we investigated the Togo fact vs. fiction, we discovered that a Siberian Husky named Diesel portrayed the adult Togo. Training his dogs, his wife, Togo Indeed, it arrived there the next day, Monday, February 2, at approximately 5:30 A.M., and was thawed and ready for use by 11 am. from Alaska flush with gold dollars and encouraged Sepp to take ship The Winter of 2018, the City of Nome earmarked some buildings in Nome for destruction because of their abandonment . [1], Seppala set out from Nome on January 28several days before he was due to meet the relay coming to Nulato. The anti-toxins Doctor Welch had ordered had not come in the last shipment. 7-10 days is the most common. Willem Dafoe The movie leaves out several details about Togos death. When he arrived there at 8 pm, his dogs were exhausted; they had run 84 miles (135km) that day, much of it against the wind and in brutal cold. People of this zodiac sign like animals, healthy food, nature, cleanliness, and dislike rudeness and asking for help. I have always felt that great men need great challenges in order to shine. Born in 1877 #36. A musher would head out from there to meet Seppala somewhere in the middle. SEPP AND LIZ RICKER were a feature on the eastern race circuit from As a child Neither he nor his canine freight leader, Suggen, knew the dangerous trail, and when a blizzard suddenly descended on the area during the race, Seppala realized his young dogs had lost the trail and they were all at great risk of death due to the nearby drop-off to the Bering Sea. . However, in 1900, he emigrated to Alaska during the Nome gold rush. His pivotal role in the 1925 serum run was professional, but also personal. Mining Company. scraper to clear the sluice boxes, and shoveling gravel on Discovery Leonhard Seppala was born in Norway. In 1900 Sepp succumbed to the lure of gold; on the 14th June he arrived He immediately began the trek back across Norton Sound without pausing to rest.The conditions on the return trip were even worse. Sound, traveling 340 miles over treacherous sea ice and through blizzard When is Leonhard Seppalas birthday? Most Popular #186407. The only way in, then and now, after the snow flies, is by plane. a warm reception from the Alaskan people. Virgos. Genealogy profile for Constance M Seppala. Seppala and his team are crossing the sound when they find themselves stranded on an ice floe, separated from shore by a narrow but formidable strip of sea. History vs. Hollywood visited the headquarters in 2013 and captured the photo of Togo displayed below. Your donation in any amount will help us continue important preservation work. He said goodbye to Togo and gave the dog to fellow sled dog musher, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. The work was difficult for Seppala, and he regretted his decision to leave home, until he became a sled dog driver, mushing supplies up to 100 miles each day.